A wonderful young couple graced my life;  Cyrus and Judy recently married and relocated to Toronto from Vancouver. Dozens of showings, involvement in a few offers, then success with a multiple offer where a BULLY offer pushed events forward a few days.  We prevailed.   The strategy to have the Buyers standing nearby and actually entering the house for a "refresher" look around afforded the opportunity to meet the Sellers and develop a relationship.     I am pleased and proud to count Cy and Judy as my friends.  Our Toronto Adventure will have a life of its own.  We strolled High Park, selected a shooting location, and had dinner while the video was uploading. What did you do today?    Would you like to go shopping? 11/12/2011

Today the Bank of Canada announced it was slashing interest rates by half a percentage point to 3.5 per cent. The bank also signaled more rate cuts are likely as it seeks to protect the Canadian economy from a slowdown in the U.S. The cut is welcome news to Canadians hoping to buy a home, as analysts anticipate a cut in mortgage interest rates also. "Overall,  today's move from the Bank of Canada suggests that although domestic demand in Canada remains incredibly healthy, they're increasingly concerned about spillover effects from the slumping U.S. economy," said Jacqui Douglas, economics strategist at TD Securities. On a daily basis, as I monitor the Toronto real estate market, I wonder whether these interest rate cuts will only add fuel to the fires and serve to bring back the biddin... 03/04/2009

Lawyer Bob Aaron wrote an interesting article recently about a home seller's obligations to disclose house defects to buyers. According to Aaron, the main criterion the courts apply to decide if a seller is responsible for repairs/defects is whether the defects are patent (obvious) or latent (hidden). Case in point: The buyers of a home in Leduc County, Alberta, inspected the house three times before signing on the dotted line. The only problems they found were minor wiring issues. Soon after they moved in, however, they discovered an infestation of carpenter ants in a bedroom ceiling and mould in the basement. Because of the ant infestation, the entire roof had to be removed and replaced with a metal one. But when the buyers took the matter to court, the judge ruled that they'd failed... 11/17/2008